Tegwen the Enchantress
Tegwen the Enchantress was the Mistress Royal Enchantress of the august kingdom of Noslith from the time of the first outbreak of the Rasping Pox in 5E.1499 to the time of Noslith's fall in 5E.1522. Shrewd, cunning, merciless, and beautiful, Tegwen was determined to do anything to protect the realm and the rule of House Arvendon. Although Tegwen's involvement with the Infernal Pact may have endangered the realm, the Enchantress arranged the creation of the chivalric Order of the Dawn's Herald with King Richard II, and fought on the side of the Dawn's Herald against Ashtoreth, although she was defeated. Tegwen joined Princess Calanthe Arvendon and the Last Kingdom, and formed a Triumvirate of wizards to protect the new royal seat of Newport. The dangerous enchantress secured the Last Kingdom for a long time against powerful enemies, and after the Last Kingdom's fall, she continued to spread her unique brand of order elsewhere, escaping to Gaelathara. Profile It was often difficult to tell the true affiliation of the Enchantress; her utterly cold demeanor and dark appearance gave her an intimidating, unapproachable presence, and she was known as both a frigid beauty and an evil witch by the Royal Court of Noslith. Tegwen's true identity as a noble daughter of House Beldrec was kept secret from most of the court, although it would still be exploited by the Court of Locusts in an attempt to slay her with Impietas. Her identity was further shrouded by her appearance, except to those who knew her when she was first young, such as the Duke of Agrawel. Tegwen used the spell Ioulaum's longevity to extend her life and youth after ascending to Mistress Royal Enchantress, not content to protect Noslith with a mortal lifetime. Although Tegwen seemed to have lost purpose after losing her identity, she found both in the war against the Black Cardinal and both again in the fight to protect Noslith. However, the long years made her deeply paranoid as she awaited the return of her true enemies, and she began to envelop herself in her own webs. Ever the deceiver, Tegwen used deception to survive both the court and the magical realm, although her powers of enchantment were even stronger, and she was even able to stand up to Ashtoreth, however briefly, at the Fall of Lagarde. As an immortal archmage, she likely retained her youth, her beauty, and her tyrannical sense of justice. Relationships Tegwen had a familiar, a black cat named Siofra. She appreciated Edmund Trencavel's loyalty to the realm and occasionally even his personality, and seemed to enjoy taunting the adventurers at Blackbridge, as well as the Dawn's Herald. She maintained a distance from much of the nobility, save for those members of court who were also members of her family. A close personal friend of Richard II, Tegwen also served as something of a mentor to Princess Calanthe. Personality Tegwen was a cold and mysterious individual, a shadowy figure on the royal court whom all knew as dangerous. Tegwen did not mind using magic in normal or political interactions, and was often matter-of-fact in commanding others. Hardened by the loss of her family name, her life at the Academy, the war against the Black Cardinal and twenty years as Archmage made her into the woman she was in 1522; utterly defiant, reliant on no one but herself, and dedicated only to Noslith. Tegwen had something of a soft side, often showing an appreciation for verbal wit and clever jests, and even seemed to enjoy feminine things, although she rarely dressed in colors other than black, fitting her dark and mordant countenance. History Tegwen the Enchantress was born in 5E.1482 as Tegwen Beldrec, daughter of Earl Audamar of Norgate and brother of future earl and king of Cumbria Ethelhelm Beldrec. Tegwen had long desired to learn magic, inspired by tales of mages like Piri Niven, Arathir, and Liber, who used their powers to defend righteousness in the name of great kings. However, her father repeatedly refused her, and instead, when she came of age, Tegwen was matched with Eldred Thrussell, heir apparent to the duchy of Agrawel; rather than marry the older, drunken nobleman, she escaped in the night to Bregate and joined the Arcane Academy. Her father disowned Tegwen as a member of House Beldrec; the arrangement was cancelled, and Eldred was instead matched with Kwenthrith Beldrec, Tegwen's younger sister. Tegwen gladly discarded her surname and her nobility, instead becoming Tegwen the Enchantress. Not long after, the Half-Moon Heresy struck Noslith, and the Rasping Pox made its first ravages upon the realms. In 5E.1499, during the Rasping Pox's first outbreak, when the Black Cardinal rose up with a horde of demons and dark cultists under the Black Congregation, Tegwen started the Company of Eight with seven other wizards: Ragnhild the Diviner, Balder the Conjurer, Argall the Illusionist, Audamar the Necromancer, Alastar the Transmuter, Pancras the Evoker, and Scrivenor the Abjurer; the wizards pursued the Black Cardinal and captured him, dragging him back to Agrawel. The Black Cardinal was hung, and the demon that possessed him was sealed away. For Tegwen's role, she was offered the position of Mistress Royal Enchantress; although her allies despised her for it, she betrayed the Company of Eight and joined the royal court of Noslith. The deaths of Alastar and Scrivenor, along with the fake death of Audamar, drove the Company apart; Ragnhild's visions lead her into madness and a cult of Juiblex, while Pancras became master of Evocation at the Arcane Academy of Bregate. Balder disappeared, in truth joining the Infernal Pact and rising to become the Lord Prelate of Caer Cythraul. Audamar joined the Sable Order, falling into the servants of the Blade in the Dark, while Argall became a hedge wizard. The Mistress Royal Enchantress After her ascension to the royal court, rumors began that Tegwen slept in the bed of King Richard II. Tegwen continued to deny the rumors throughout her reign yet maintained a close and personal friendship with the King while staying distant from her family, even those of her family who were members of the royal court. For twenty years, Tegwen protected the realm of Noslith against many threats, although her efforts were constantly hindered by the Church and its paranoid Inquisition, especially its Lord-Inquisitor Judicaël. In 5E.1521, when the plague returned to Bregate, Tegwen grew desperate and sought out her old ally, Balder. Tegwen became inundated with the Infernal Pact of Caer Cythraul and resumed an old, forgotten and intimate relationship with Balder from days of yore. The old feelings of the Company of Eight returned and the Enchantress recalled the Fell Archives, an ancient repository of knowledge left behind by the Shadowmaker somewhere in Ilfaine, and directed the Infernal Pact's slaving operation, lead by Farquhar Thorne, to kidnap Dulcinea Gardner, daughter of the Duke of Bregate and a maiden of royal blood. Tegwen sacrificed Dulcinea Gardner to Horrakis, the draconic guardian of the Fell Archives, and obtained the Book of Plagues. Learning that the Rasping Pox was a demonic disease, she sought to engender a cure through the Infernal Pact, calling upon their operations to serve her designs. Eventually, they were able to synthesize a cure with devil's blood that did not cure but did ease the plague. Unsatisfied, Tegwen returned to her tower in Castle Arvendon; there, she learned of the disappearance of Father Tihomir of Blackbridge, along with the disappearances of several other priests, including some confirmed deaths. Believing the lie that the assassins who carried out the slayings were members of the Infernal Pact, Tegwen returned to Bregate and Caer Cythraul to confront Balder, but was sent away, and could not discern if Balder lied or told the truth. She left Caer Cythraul and Balder behind, in the end, although she also made sure to dissuade those who sought to learn the truth themselves. The Dawn's Herald After her involvement with the Infernal Pact, Tegwen returned to her Tower in Castle Arvendon to plan her next moves and continue to attempt to synthesize a cure for the Rasping Pox. As her experiments continued to fail, Reiner Faron's purges continued to rage throughout Noslith, the Fifth Crusade formed as the truth held in Markus Aldhard's medallion was spread throughout the kingdom. Tegwen turned her eye to the enigmatic and indefatigable High Marshal of the Army of God, fearing her involvement with the new target of the Church of Sol might be revealed. When the Dawn's Herald slew Matthew Averill of Hambor, the Fifth Crusade brought charges of murder against them. Tegwen sought out the Dawn's Herald, offering to help them seek out the truth after their trial; they sought her out in kind, asking her to speak on their behalf in the same trial. Tegwen refused, but offered instead to summon compurgators that were too faraway to arrive to speak in the trial in time; the adventurers agreed, although Tegwen asked them to first retrieve two cures that were being circulated in the Agrawel black market - a cure that did not heal the Rasping Pox, and a cure that caused the Rasping Pox. The adventurers acquired both salves, and so Tegwen conjured Raiwen Talethar, much to her excitement, along with Bishop Anselm of Bregate and Viscount Malcolm Stenet of Ayles. Meanwhile, a vicious diabolist called the Hellknight, a dark warrior riding upon a nightmare, began to hunt the Dawn's Herald, who were busy preparing for their trial; Tegwen assisted them against the cultist, ultimately defeating him at the tournament of the Summer Solstice, where the Infernal Pact had plotted to kill Reiner Faron by delivering Princess Calanthe a cursed armor suit possessed by the spirit of the Black Knight, Ultan. When the Dawn's Herald attempted to intervene, the Hellknight and the Masked Woman both attacked Lemuel, who called for Tegwen's assistance. Tegwen and Tyffayne chased off the diabolists and recovered the Hellknight's medallion. The medallion was some sort of magic item with teleportation abilities, and Tegwen was able to reverse engineer its magic after a time so that the adventurers could use it to infiltrate the Hellknight's lair. Before their departure, Tegwen revealed some of her involvement in the salves they had acquired from the Syndicate and the Yellow Rose; that they were based on an old recipe of hers, the same that she synthesized with the help of the Infernal Pact. Tegwen lead the adventurers on a secret mission into the Hall of Flies, an underground temple of Baalzebul outside of Agrawel, beneath the Tarquinn Farmstead. They teleported into its depths and fought past its guards, charging into the main chapel, where they were met not only by the Hellknight but by Lord Prelate Balder, who revealed more of Tegwen's previously hidden connections to the Infernal Pact. A great battle erupted, and Balder attempted to escape; Tegwen pursued him through a gate, and killed the wizard in Caer Cythraul with a single power word kill, in vengeance for twisting and selling the cure to the Syndicate after they had synthesized it in love together. After Balder dropped dead, the ''gate ''immediately closed, and Tegwen found herself surrounded by diabolists in one of their greatest strongholds. Realizing that she had made a mistake, Tegwen cast an epic Enchantment spell and charmed every single diabolist within Caer Cythraul, forcing them to obey her will. She used her power to summon Deskari and learn about Ashtoreth and the Rasping Pox, accomplishing much in little time yet growing obvious to the rest of the Infernal Pact. The Deacons came for Tegwen, so she dismissed Deskari and departed, hiding in death. Meanwhile, before enacting her plans, she had asked Argall to take her place in Agrawel, who obliged. The royal family was seemingly aware of this ruse. Argall helped the Dawn's Herald in their continued activities in Agrawel until the Eclipse, when he was attacked and seemingly killed in Tegwen's tower. Meanwhile, Tegwen returned in person to battle the Black Cardinal at Griffin Hill; there, in the Shadowfell, she nearly died, save for the intervention of Piri Niven and the Dawn's Herald. Piri Niven defeated and slew Faolan, who tried to use him and the Dawn's Herald to ascend to the Court of Locusts, at the cost of the archwizard's own life. Tegwen and the Dawn's Herald slew the Black Cardinal once and for all, yet his essence was consumed in the Shadowfell by Yorath. After the Eclipse, Tegwen stayed in Castle Arvendon as the royal court's enchantress. Ten days after the Eclipse, Tegwen summoned the Dawn's Herald to her tower for one final time. She revealed to the knights that she had aided the Infernal Pact in selling laudanum in Lowport, kidnapping Dulcinea Gardner and Aeron Cyrill from Highcrest, and robbing the Arcane Academy stores in Godsgrove for the purpose of accessing the Fell Archives, obtaining the Book of Plagues, and synthesizing the cure that was later sold by the Syndicate and corrupted by the Yellow Rose. She even revealed her sacrifice of Dulcinea Gardner after Farquhar Thorne's kidnapping of the maiden; Tegwen revealed what else she know about the plague, and about the war between the Syndicate and the Yellow Rose that had scourged Agrawel's underground. She likewise told the story of how she defeated the Black Cardinal and buried his body in the secret crypt beneath Carmarthen after sealing his demonic form in the Shadowfell. In response to her numerous crimes, the Dawn's Herald refused to reveal her to the rest of the court, but threatened her to stay in line with Impietas, which the knights had plucked from the corpse of the Black Cardinal after their own defeat of the demon. Not long after their final meeting, the Dawn's Herald departed Agrawel with Princess Calanthe in their company. They would not see Tegwen again until the final battle, during the Fall of Lagarde. In the meantime, Tegwen had researched the Court of Locusts further, drawing on what she had learned from Deskari within Caer Cythraul. She attempted to use this knowledge to uncover Ellyllon, a sword that might pierce Ashtoreth, along with the blood of the archangel of the same name that might cure the plague. Tegwen was too late; despite the best efforts of her agents, including Raiwen Talethar, she could not find the blade, and the Sunscourge Heresy came as a surprise. Tegwen appeared above Castle Antenor in an ill-fated attempt to defeat Ashtoreth. In the skies above the ruins of Lagarde, the two archmages fought, yet Ashtoreth ultimately knocked Tegwen to the ground. The mistress royal enchantress was thought dead, but survived and helped to gather Henry Malvern, Princess Calanthe, and the other survivors of the Dawn's Herald to fight again for Noslith. After the Fall of Agrawel, and the Deluge, they fought as the Last Kingdom, yet Tegwen refused to go down with the crown, fleeing to Gaelathara with House Ansravain, where she would continue her reign as royal sorceress under the last elven queen.